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Beware of Trucks Unlimited in Corsicana, Tx

On August 18, 2013 I purchased a 2009 Sea Doo Speedster 150 HO jet boat from Joe Page, owner of Trucks Unlimited in Corsicana, Texas (www.trucksunlimited1.com) . Mr. Page claimed the boat was not part of his inventory, and he was selling it for his father-in-law, who was the original owner. However, Mr. Page had the boat displayed on his car lot located at 523 W. 2nd Ave, Corsicana, Tx, 903-872-2289. According to his business card Mr. Page also has other used car lots at 420 N. 15th, Corsicana and 2100 W. 7th, Corsicana. According to google, the N. 15th location may use the business name Trucks Unlimited 2. I met Mr. Page on his lot and looked the boat over. It looked like it had hardly been used, and the hour meter showed just 12 total hours of use. BRP (the manufacturer of Sea Doo jet boats) shows break in to be 10 hours, so this boat was just barely past break in. I inquired about water testing the boat and he dismissed the need for a water test, stating that he “guaranteed” that there was nothing wrong with the boat. Sadly, I took him at his word. I have to admit I was swayed by the extremely low hours, thinking “How could anything have gone wrong with a boat so new?” At any rate, we agreed upon a price, I paid him, and we parted ways. After driving home I checked the oil level in the engine and discovered that it was so low it didn’t even register on the dipstick. I found that I had to add 1.5 quarts of oil to bring the oil level to the middle of the dipstick. I was concerned, because Page had told me he’d had the boat serviced (including oil change) in May, and that the boat hadn’t been used at all since July 4th. I tried to call Mr. Page twice, but was unable to reach him. Note that this was less than 4 hours after purchase. I did make contact with Mr. Page by text on August 22, 4 days after purchase. I inquired if the boat burned oil, and he assured me it did not, stating that the dealer must have failed to fill the crankcase when the oil change was performed. I was somewhat placated by his assertions, but still concerned, as I’d noticed blue smoke coming from the exhaust at idle speed. For information, the engine in this boat is a 3 cylinder Rotax four stroke, fuel injected and supercharged. As you likely know, a fuel injected four stroke engine shouldn’t smoke, nor should it burn any appreciable oil. I used the boat for four consecutive weekends before the water got too cold to continue boating, putting 4 hours on the boat. On September 29, with 16 total hours on the boat, I performed an oil change. I found that the boat was again 1.5 quarts low on oil. I knew that having burned that much oil in just 4 hours meant that there was a significant oil consumption issue, so I contacted a local independent repair shop and had them perform a compression check. They found that cylinder #1 had 130 PSI, #2 had 165 PSI, and #3 had 163 PSI. They said that the #1 cylinder obviously had a substantial loss of compression. The local shop suggested a manufacturing defect, as they had never seen a Rotax with so few hours with such a large loss of compression. I took the boat to a Sea Doo dealership where the engine was removed and torn down. They found substantial damage to the #1 cylinder wall, #1 piston, cam journals, and crank journals. The service manager said that in his 30 years in the business he’d never seen damage like that and had no idea whether it was the result of a manufacturing defect or owner misuse. Numerous detailed photos were sent to BRP, where the factory engineers determined that the cause of the damage was a hydro lock in the #1 cylinder. They said with certainty that the hydro lock was the result of water ingestion into the engine. They could not tell exactly how the water ingestion had occurred, but they did indicate the three most common ways that water is ingested into Rotax engines, all of which are the result of owner misuse. I had kept in touch with Mr. Page by phone and email, keeping him appraised of what I learned along the way. Once a determination had been made that the damages were not the result of any factory defect I proceeded with repairs at my expense, sharing the estimate with Mr. Page. Mr. Page said he wanted to do the “right thing” and would think on it and get back in touch with me. I didn’t hear anything from him for a full month, at which point he offered me $550 because I was a “nice guy”. Total repair costs were $4,450. I replied, suggesting a split whereby he’d pay $2,633, or just under 60% of the total cost of repairs. He said no. OK, I gave him a chance to honor his word and he’s chosen not to. I have other remedies I can pursue. And I’ve certainly learned a painful and expensive lesson about buying a used boat from a used car salesman. But, as a warning to others, if you’re thinking about buying something from Joe Page of Corsicana, Texas, or from Trucks Unlimited, well, proceed with great caution. And if Page tells you he “guarantees” something you might want to get that in writing.